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[Pages H370-H371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
END SHUTDOWN AND PAY COAST GUARD MEMBERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild) for 5 minutes.
Ms. WILD. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to reintroduce my first bill,
which was introduced at the end of the 115th Congress, the Continuing
Appropriations for the Coast Guard Act. I am doing this on behalf of
Janeen and her family, constituents from Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Janeen is the mother of two children, ages 10 and 12. Her husband of
15 years is a Coast Guard member. Until recently, they were focused on
what most families across our country focus on: family time, work,
balancing their checkbook to pay their mortgage and bills, enjoying the
holidays together, and hoping to celebrate a new year.
All of that changed this past December when a partisan fight in
Washington, over which they had no control, suddenly threw their
family's entire existence into question.
Because the Coast Guard falls within the Department of Homeland
Security, one of the agencies that has not been funded, Janeen's family
and 42,000 others, including 320 Pennsylvanians, have been left to fend
for themselves.
They received a one-time payment from the Coast Guard's emergency
fund, equivalent to half a paycheck. But the Coast Guard doesn't have
any additional funds on hand, so they have been advised to hold garage
sales and take up dog walking for extra income.
My bill would fund the Coast Guard until an agreement is reached to
fully fund the government, ensuring that Coast Guard members receive
their paychecks during the entire shutdown.
I am proud to have the support of some of my Republican colleagues,
including Mr. Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania, and I hope that a
bipartisan coalition of Members in both Chambers can urgently pass this
bill.
It is important to take a step back and remind ourselves of what is
at stake for Janeen's family and thousands like them. As long as the
government is shut down, and until this bill is passed by the House and
Senate and signed into law, Janeen's husband won't get a paycheck on
the 15th of this month.
Already, their family has been forced to dip into their savings and
emergency funds just to buy groceries and keep the lights on. It is
about a 70-mile drive from home to the base each way, so Janeen's
husband is not only not getting paid, he is actually losing money to go
to work every day.
As the daughter of a man who spent his entire career in the Air
Force, I must say, this is a shameful way to treat men and women who
have devoted their lives to serving our country and the families who
serve and sacrifice among them.
For their sake and for the sake of the security of our country, we
cannot let toxic hyperpartisanship keep an entire branch of the United
States military from receiving pay.
We should be talking about funding more effective technology and
infrastructure to protect our country, not about a border wall that
will do nothing to stop the incursion of illegal drugs into our
country. The Coast Guard is our most effective method of stopping drug
runners.
In Janeen's words: ``If my husband doesn't show up for work, he is
AWOL.'' That is the reality for our men and women in uniform. The very
least they should be able to expect from their elected representatives
is that we have their backs and that they will get the support they
need no matter what the politics are.
This is not about party or ideology. It is not about scoring points
in Washington or on cable news shows. Ultimately, Janeen and her
family, and everyone like them, just want to see their government live
up to its most basic responsibilities, because as Janeen tells her
kids: ``When you say you are going to do something, you make a
promise.''
Servicemembers like Janeen's husband made a promise to defend our
Nation when they took their oath. They have never let us down. Every
single day, through every challenge and hardship, they have kept their
promise and done everything expected of them and more. But during this
shutdown, their government has failed to keep its promise to them.
Janeen's family and other Coast Guard families need us right now.
Through our actions by getting this bill through the House of
Representatives, the Senate, and to the President's desk, we can show
them that we take care of our own and that we honor selfless service in
this country more than partisanship.
[[Page H371]]
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